X-ACTO Crayon Pro Electric Crayon Sharpener, Electric Sharpener with SafeStart Automatic Motor, Great for Home or Schools

Don’t impulse-buy this. I work in children’s ministry at a church and my coworker and I got very excited when we discovered this product. The videos of this machine sharpening a crayon back to its original look–ridge and all–were so enticing. $50 seemed like a lot for a crayon-specific sharpener, but it seemed worth it if it would get us more use out of our crayons before we had to go buy more. Finally, we bought it.Here’s the thing about those videos where the sharpener sharpens a crayon perfectly: that happens like once for every 20ish crayons. You can freeze the crayons or not; the blades simply will not like some crayons over others. The most you’ll be able to sharpen without having to stop and clean out the blade cartridge of broken crayon tips is maybe 5 crayons. And you will DEFINITELY want to lay some newspaper or something down on whatever surface you’re sharpening on, because the crayon shavings GET. EVERYWHERE. And since they’re wax, the moment that surface heats up–even by way of your skin coming into contact with it–the wax shavings will adhere to the surface. If you want a colorful, wax-blotted tabletop, go rogue and don’t cover your surface. If not, you’ll be well-served to lay some newspaper–thus rendering the suction cups on the bottom of the machine basically useless.I do realize that this machine is probably the best we can hope for in a crayon sharpener. Since crayons are waxy, they’re inevitably going to gum up blades as you sharpen. But $50 can be a lot of money for something that causes more frustration than satisfaction. We will get what use we can out of the machine now that we have it, but I’m not sure we would have bought it knowing how infrequently the sharpening process would be as satisfying as it was in that initial video demonstration.Now, all is not lost: If you’ve got time on your hands (and, busyness aside, sometimes you do), you can indeed effectively sharpen your crayons with this machine and get more use out of them. But—Break up with the mental image of perfect, factory-sent crayon tips. You’ll get them once in a while, but they’ll be the exception, not the rule. More often, you’ll get crayons that are more effective than they were as nubs–and if you work with kids, that’s really all you need.-READ THE INSTRUCTIONS on how to secure and change the blade cartridge. You will have to do it often, and if you don’t secure it, it can completely shear off from the inside and render the machine 100% useless (this may or may not have happened the first time I used it, causing us to have to order a replacement. That’s on me, but learn from my mistakes!).-You will spend about three times the amount of time cleaning the inside of it out that you spend actually sharpening, and the whole process will take longer than you expect it to.-Freeze the crayons. Or don’t. I’ve tried both, and either way you just spend a buttload of time cleaning the machine out.Whatever you do…make a truly informed decision before buying! Don’t get sucked in by the satisfying sharpening videos.Godspeed.

Love having it in my Kinder Class. 4 stars ONLY BECAUSE ITS SO EXPENSIVE… but really worth it… My kindergarten students love having this sharpener, especially since we have a community crayon bin. It sharpens quick and it has not gotten jammed.

Teacher requested item. I ordered this as a teacher donation request. She highly recommended this for her classroom.

Works great. It was a gift for someone and they love it.

Shockingly good. I’m probably premature on this review, but for home use, this thing is surprisingly good. It sharpens crayons very quickly and makes very nice tips. No need to remove paper. The bin is generous. The suction cups to hold it down work well. My only complaints are the hole is a bit tight/tough to get into, and the price is a bit steep. But I guess you get what you pay for, because it sharpens mildly-neglected crayons all the way to “just broke in half” crayons. Very cool!